Arkhan the Black
The Lich Priest known as “the Lord of Death” is one of the most loyal figures in Warhammer Fantasy. However, his loyalty is not to the Tomb Kings, but to their greatest enemy: Nagash. He was the first and most faithful follower of the necromancer – both in life and in death.
His epithet “the Black” is not due to any vile disposition or betrayal of his people. The title is – and this is no joke – due to his poor dental hygiene. This did not seem to concern the wizard in life. Furthermore, he loved to chew on a type of root – a habit that shattered his teeth.
Arkhan was one of the leading minds behind the coup that allowed Nagash to seize control of Nehekhara. As the general of the necromancer, he remained undefeated until he sacrificed himself in his last moments for his dark master – at least, that was what everyone thought.
The developers of Total War: Warhammer 3 have released a new Let’s Play in honor of his role in the End Times with the dark wizard:
In truth, he was captured by another Tomb King. This one wanted to seize Nagash’s power and squeeze the secret out of Arkhan. However, during his captivity, he planned another coup, this time with the help of Neferata, the king’s wife. In the course of this, Neferata (who was reborn as a vampire), the king, and Arkhan died.
When Nagash returned after many generations, he had not forgotten his most loyal servant and brought Arkhan back. Since then, Nagash has repeatedly died and returned, but throughout all this time, Arkhan’s loyalty to his master has remained unwavering.
As the end of the world was practically at the door, Arkhan resurrected Nagash once more, this time with the help of Mannfred von Carstein. He hoped that the great necromancer would halt the world’s destruction by Chaos. However, the wizard wanted to face the Chaos Gods on his own terms and was not quick enough before the Old World perished.
